BioMed Realty Pays $127M for Seattle Life Science Site

Denny Park South. Image courtesy of BioMed Realty

BioMed Realty has acquired Denny Park South, two adjacent parcels in Seattle totaling 1.6 acres, for $126.8 million, according to King County records. An entity affiliated with Clise Properties sold the South Lake Union/Denny Triangle site. The two parcels at 2301 Eighth Ave. and 2300 Seventh Ave. are set to house BioMed’s proposed 616,000-square-foot project, aimed at tenants active in the life science and technology fields.

To make way for the new development, the new owner has already filed permits to demolish the existing buildings on the site—the Loyal Inn and the neighboring 22,764-square-foot Class B office building that has a 52-car parking lot— according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.

The Seattle life sciences landscape

The current acquisition of Denny Park South, paired with the recent purchase of T6 Innovation Center at 200 Taylor Ave. N, represents a potential 1.2 million-square-foot pipeline for the new owner. These new developments would double BioMed’s Seattle portfolio, which also includes the recently completed Dexter Yard building less than a mile away from Denny Park South. The 15-story life sciences building at 700 Dexter Ave. N encompasses 522,760 square feet and is proposed for LEED Gold certification, CommercialEdge data shows.

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Based on Colliers data, at the end of 2021, the Seattle life sciences market had nearly 1.4 million square feet of projects underway. The metro had a 7.8 million-square-foot inventory at a 6.9 percent overall vacancy. The metro’s leading submarket relative to vacancy was Lake Union, with a vacancy rate of less than 1 percent.

Notable tenants occupying BioMed properties across the Seattle metro include the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Omeros Corp. and Shape Therapeutics, among others.

BioMed Realty is also an active investor in the life sciences sector. Recently, the Blackstone subdivision acquired a 22-building life science and office complex totaling 1 million square feet in Boulder, Colo. The new owner shelled out a little over $600 million for the 90 percent occupied property.